Breaking news from 1860: Emily left the house
Woah!
Scholars at Amherst College believe they have found a second photo of Emily Dickinson!
It was probably taken when she was about 30.
There she is, on your left.
If it is her (and signs apparently point to yes) it's important and interesting for a number of reasons,
not the least of which is, we get to see her as a healthy, confident adult out and about, which was a limited window of time.
But, there's also this neat thought to consider:
this image is a daguerrotype.
Daguerrotypes are not photographic prints in the way we know them--they're not "prints" at all.
Each is, rather, an image directly burned onto silver-copper plate inside the camera,
and then displayed by layering them against a black background to provide the dark values. (looks really different in person)
Each daguerrotype, therefore, is a one-of-a-kind item
that was itself ACTUALLY in the camera, in the room with the subject. This little bit of glass and gold leaf was almost certainly handled by Dickinson herself.
CXXXIXThe FACE we choose to miss,Be it but for a day-As absent as a hundred yearsWhen it has rode away.
Scholars at Amherst College believe they have found a second photo of Emily Dickinson!
It was probably taken when she was about 30.
There she is, on your left.
If it is her (and signs apparently point to yes) it's important and interesting for a number of reasons,
not the least of which is, we get to see her as a healthy, confident adult out and about, which was a limited window of time.
But, there's also this neat thought to consider:
this image is a daguerrotype.
Daguerrotypes are not photographic prints in the way we know them--they're not "prints" at all.
Each is, rather, an image directly burned onto silver-copper plate inside the camera,
and then displayed by layering them against a black background to provide the dark values. (looks really different in person)
Each daguerrotype, therefore, is a one-of-a-kind item
that was itself ACTUALLY in the camera, in the room with the subject. This little bit of glass and gold leaf was almost certainly handled by Dickinson herself.
CXXXIXThe FACE we choose to miss,Be it but for a day-As absent as a hundred yearsWhen it has rode away.